Flue-plugging device.



PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907 W. H. TRACY. FLUE PLUGGING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T. 19. 190s.

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WILLIAM II. TRACY, CF FOLKSTON, GEORGIA.

FLUE-PLUGGING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 4, 1907.

Application filed October 19,1906. Serial 'Nox 339,592. l

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

' Be it known that I, WILLIAM II. TRACY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Folkston, in the county of Charlton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flue-Plugging Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved device for plugging the end of a leaking flue of a boiler, more especially of a locomotive boiler.

As customaryT heretofore, when a leaking flue is discovered, the engineer stops the locomotive, draws his fire, waits until it is sufficiently cool in the fire box or furnace chamber, and then taking a plug and a hammer enters the fire box and plugs the flue,-this operation causing much delay, and is, moreover, attended with considerable discomfort and inconvenience.

This invention consists of a tube having a cylindrical forwardly open enlargement at its forward end,-for the reception of the butt end portion of a plug therein,-and a plugging rod endwise movable within the tube, having one end thereof extended beyond the rear open end of the tube, and adapted for impact, by its forward end, against a plug supported by and within said enlargement; and by the utilization of this device it is only necessary to shake down the re in the furnace su'l'liciently to ascertain which fiue is leaking, and then with the plug properly placed in the forward end of the device, the plug may be inserted in the end of the leaking iiue and forcibly driven thereinto by striking with the hammer against the rear end of the rod.

The improved device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure l is a sectional elevation through a portion of a locomotive comprising the fire box and flue boiler, and showing the present device as employed in the iiue plugging operation. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the device on a larger scale, the same being broken in the length thereof for economy in space. Fig. 3 is a front end view of the device, the plug being absent therefrom.

In the drawings,-A represents the tube open at both its forward and rearward ends and having at its forward end a cylindrical forwardly open enlargement B. :t represents a tapered plug having the butt portion thereof within and supported by said enlargement, and having its forward portion extended beyond the open end of said enlargement.

C represents a plugging rod endwise movable within the tube, having one end thereof extended beyond the rear open end of the tube and adapted, for impact, by its forward end against the plug.

As shown, the forward end of the suiiiciently long tube A has external screw threads a receiving the engagement therewith of a shortsleeve like section or thimblethe forward end of the tube A, which only extends, with the screw engagement, part way through the thimble, constituting a shoulder b against which the butt end of the plug may be set, and which backs up the plug, and insures its insertion into the end of a iiue, when brought to presentation thereto.

-As shown in Fig. 2, the forward end of the plugging yrod C may have a slight enlargement d, the rear end of the said rod being also enlarged, as indicated at d2; and f represents a stop whereby the extent of endwise movement of the plugging rod may be limited so that the latter may not be slid out from the tube and be missing therefrom on an occasion when the use of the device is desirable.

displacing the metal comprised in the wall of the tube A at a point suitably back of its screw threaded forward end.

An inspection of Fig. 1, in which a hammer is indicated by the dotted lines at y, indicates the mode of employment of this device, rendering further description of the manner of its use unnecessary.

I clairnz- A device for plugging boiler-flues, consisting of a tube having a forwardly-open enlargement at its forward end for the reception of the butt-end portion of a plug, a plugging rod endwise movable in said tube and having an enlarged forward end, and a stop projecting inward from the wall of the tube in rear of said enlarged forward end and adapted to co-operate therewith to prevent the rod sliding rearward out of the tube.

Signed by me at Folkston, Ga., in presence of two subscribing witnesses. l

' WILLIAM II. TRACY.

IVitnesses:

L. E. MALLARD, B. L. MCDONALD.

IOO 

